In all his glory
Bouncy Ball Man is a comic book series by Caleb York and Rick Alves starring a very spherical, very yellow, and very down-on-his-luck man named Cody Dillon.
Dillon is a broke stuntman about to age out of the industry and is dealing with a divorce and a world that's seemed to have moved on without him. He reluctantly takes an advertising gig for the Topsy Turvy Toy company where he has to dress in a ridiculous yellow suit and bounce up and down.
Unfortunately for him and fortunately for Topsy Turvy Toys, he winds up accidentally saving the day and becomes a corporate superhero. As his story progresses, he has to deal with his own hatred of fame, a vicious motorcycle gang, parenting struggles, landing dates, and his sense of identity.
You can read it on Comixology
and on GlobalComix.
Bouncy Ball Man contains examples of:
- Accidental Hero: How Cody ends up becoming Bouncy Ball Man
- Alternative Comics: Certainly qualifies as one.
- Amusing Injuries: Motorcycle gangsters shooting each other to death? Not so funny. Those same motorcycle gangsters getting flattened by a man in a giant yellow ball suit? Now you have funny.
- Arc Words: For the first issue - "I am never getting out of this suit"
- Badass Family: Cody's daughter, in an attempt to impress her dad, is a black belt in Taekwondo and is able to knock out a gangster with a single kick.
- Bar Brawl: Cody is busy chatting it up with a lady at The Gorge Jump - the stuntmen's bar - when his old rival, Matty, comes in and starts ribbing him for his reputation in the stunt world and for how ridiculous he looks in his new costume. Despite being outnumbered 3-1, Cody decides to pick a fight. He loses.
- Batter Up!: Cody, ambushed and without his costume, steals a baseball bat from an elderly neighbor to give himself a fighting chance against his would-be assassin.
- Berserk Button: Cody really dislikes it if you call him Bouncy Ball Man when he's not in costume. Or just Matty in general.
- Bullying a Dragon: The two thugs who chose to steal heroin from the Vipers motorcycle gang. They couldn't have picked a softer target?
- Butt-Monkey: Jerry the marketing lead is Walden's verbal punching bag when things go wrong. He's not really respected all that much by Cody or Sophie or anyone else for that matter, either.
- Cool Old Guy: Cody is hovering somewhere around 50 and is a stuntman who fights crime and gets in a bar fight all in the first issue. Walden also could qualify as one.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Wild West Pete, the Vipers' go-to assassin, is seen taking his daughter out for ice cream and to see a stunt show. In fact, this is what prevents him from taking out Bob, the heroin thief - he's with his daughter and tells the gang to send someone else.
- Enigmatic Minion: Wild West Pete. Rust and Bump can only guess at the origins of his nickname and we don't get much of a backstory about him.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After getting shot at by the Vipers, immediately blowing up on social media as a result, and getting pressured by everyone around him to take the Bouncy Ball Man gig fulltime, the fame-hating Cody storms out of the Topsy Turvy Toys building to go to a stuntman's bar to unwind.
- iPhony: Cody's laptop has a banana logo on it.
- Make an Example of Them: The Vipers gang had one of their heroin shipments jacked by two thugs. They're looking to execute both of them in order to send a message to the criminal underworld not to mess with them.
- Meaningful Background Event: Rust and Bump, the two Vipers thugs can be seen in the crowd looking for their target as Bouncy Ball Man performs the show.
- Nerves of Steel: Bouncy Ball Man himself. An adrenaline-seeking thrill junkie who doesn't hesitate to jump into action when he sees a gunfight erupt.
- Noodle Incident: How the Vipers' heroin shipment got stolen in the first place or why the thieves chose to target them.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Bouncy Ball Man actually has two, as of his third issue. There's a rabbit and a kangaroo. Unlike most examples, they don't have any special powers or the ability to talk - they're just normal animals put in a bright costume.
- Number Two: Jerry is this to Walden at Topsy Turvy Toys
- Quick Draw: Wild West Pete. Rust and Bump say it's how he got his nickname, in fact. That and he Knows the Ropes
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Walden, the head of Topsy Turvy Toys, is a millionaire prone to yelling at his subordinates when they mess up and whose main priority is ultimately the company's bottom line. However, he also bails Cody out of jail and gives him the option of saying no to becoming Bouncy Ball Man fulltime, despite Walden wanting him to.
- Sexier Alter Ego: The woman that Cody meets in the bar is adamant that picking up Bouncy Ball Man himself is way better than picking up some random old guy.
- Signature Headgear: For Cody, at least while he's wearing the Bouncy Ball Man suit. Because his yellow helmet collapses into his suit in order for him to become a perfect sphere and actually bounce, it's an important part of his costumed identity.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Despite the fact that Matty and Cody have been in the same industry for years, Cody can't stand the guy. It doesn't help that Matty is younger, a popular choice for film studios, and cocky as all hell.
- Smooth-Talking Talent Agent: Sophie is this. Cody respects her skills as one, even though she's just as likely to use them on him.
- Shout-Out:
- The Vipers shares their name with the motorcycle gang that Tony and Chris run into in The Sopranos
- The Gorge Jump bar references The Simpsons episode where Homer attempts to jump the Springfield Gorge for Bart.
-
Stunt Double: Cody's and Matty's chosen profession. In fact, there's a bar in town that caters specifically to the local stuntmen called The Gorge Jump. - Thrill Seeker: As a stuntman, Cody naturally is one. However, that's the only reason he got into the biz - he hates the fame and Executive Meddling that can come with Hollywood stunts.
- Villains Out Shopping: Wild West Pete ends up running into the man he's supposed to kill...while he's taking his daughter out for ice cream. So, he calls Rust and Bump and has them go after him instead.
